Actually, the driver of our debt is reckless and unnecessary tax reductions for the very richest Americans. The Senate bill — endorsed by Sens. Roy Blunt, Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran —illustrates that point explicitly by permanently slashing income taxes for corporations and their shareholders.

This outcome is deeply regrettable yet utterly predictable. The nation’s donor class has worked tirelessly over the decades to remove progressivity from the federal tax code, pushing more of the tax burden onto the middle class. They’re winning.

Americans who depend on both programs must work furiously during the coming months to protect them. They’ll have to reject claims Republicans want to “save” Social Security for future generations by cutting benefits or raising the retirement age.

Mostly, though, Americans must reject the notion that the annual federal budget deficit and the growing national debt are matters of any real concern to their elected representatives.

In that sense, the tax cut votes are illuminating. For years, Republicans have claimed concern about government red ink, insisting on sequesters, government shutdowns, across-the-board spending cuts and the like in order to balance the books.

We may see more of this in the days ahead, as Washington approaches another shutdown crisis.

Americans shouldn’t buy the snake oil. By enacting their own trillion-dollar stimulus plan, the party has demonstrated utter contempt for a balanced federal budget or a reduction in the nation’s debt.

Any attempt to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to solve an imagined “debt crisis” should be met with the scorn it deserves.

Tax cutters in Congress won’t only be stealing from the next generation. They’ll be lying to it, too.